George Osborne meets his Waterloo

The Chancellor of the Exchequer had the Tory backwoodsmen shaking their order papers and cheering during the spending review when he announced the following:

‘We’ll make sure the site of the Battle of Waterloo is restored in time for the 200th anniversary, to commemorate those who died there and to celebrate a great victory of coalition forces over a discredited former regime that had impoverished millions.’

While he was blustering, shadow chancellor Ed Balls missed the opportunity to point out that in Vanity Fair a feckless and profligate character called George Osborne dies at Waterloo. But Harriet Harman made no such mistake. Good to see that her education at St Paul’s has not gone to waste.